1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a holding component for housing or holding a consumption article which, in use, is detachably mounted in a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a molded component including noncontact information storage means for inputting information thereinto and outputting information therefrom through radio waves in a noncontact communication manner.
2. Prior Art
From the viewpoints of recycling and quality control, components and devices for housing or holding consumption articles which, in use, are detachably mounted in a printing apparatus, such as cassettes for ink ribbons, sheet feeding cassettes, or toner cartridges, are provided with information processing means for storing variable or fixed data. In this case, the data include data on the identity and history of the consumption articles and correction data.
Noncontact information storage means for inputting information thereinto and outputting information therefrom through radio waves in a noncontact communication manner is known as one of information processing means for use in the above application. The noncontact information storage means typically includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is provided in the body of a printing apparatus for information communication. The receiver is provided in a consumption member feeding device, such as an ink ribbon cassette, which is mounted within the body of the printing apparatus. The receiver functions to receive information from the transmitter. The transmitter and/or the receiver generally comprise, for example, an antenna and an IC chip for processing and storing data or signals which are carried by radio waves input into and output from the antenna. A communication system for information processing is called “RFID (radio frequency identification)”.
A conventional method for mounting the noncontact information storage means is generally to apply a tag with a predetermined antenna, an IC chip and the like provided therein to a holding component in its predetermined portion with the aid of an adhesive or the like. The above method for applying and fixing the tag including the noncontact information storage means onto the surface of the component is relatively simple. In this method, however, concaves and convexes are unavoidably formed on the bonded portion of the tag. Further, this method is disadvantageous in that, since the tag can be relatively easily separated, forgery is induced. Furthermore, in this method, there is a certain limitation on an improvement in the positional accuracy with respect to the application with the adhesive or the like. This disadvantageously leads to a limitation on the stabilization of input/output (I/O) of information.